N.V. Cedric Bouchard / Roses de Jeanne Champagne Inflorescence Blanc de Noirs
All about purity and clarity; full of cherries, pears and apples combined with yeasty and freshly baked bread notes and a chalky minerality beneath. The mouthfeel's expansive and faintly creamy, but the acidity keeps this very taut, precise and light on its feet.
2004 Joseph Drouhin Clos Vougeot
Starts out with incredibly pure, sappy red fruited and black cherry flavours tinged with earth and rose petals. This is very young but already offering a lot of pleasure with a beautiful finessed texture, surprisingly gentle tannins and bright, refreshing acidity. Barely a sign of the '04 greenies at first, though with some air it picks up some herbal and citric aspects that stay in the background and add complexity and a sense of freshness rather than detracting from the bright fruit and floral elements. Lovely.
2002 Château Mouton Rothschild
Spectacular aromatics the moment the cork was pulled; tobacco and cedar around a core of deep cassis and plummy fruit with sandalwood and other spicy notes giving it an exotic flair. A little tight on the palate initially, but after an hour or so in the decanter it fleshes out quite nicely, showing youthful, primary fruit and some spicy and cedary accents. There's a sense of incredible finesse and grace here, it's not a heavyweight and conveys flavour with a great deal of precision, elegance and restraint, finishing very long. A real treat!
2007 Pierre Gonon Saint Joseph
Tight as hell upon opening, not showing much more than reticent red and dark fruited flavours. After a couple of hours in the decanter it suddenly opens to show the vivid black pepper, meat and lavender-tinged fruit I always expect from Gonon, incredibly pure and elegant Syrah - though at this stage I really should leave my remaining bottles alone.